On one hand, Green Bay Packers games give an international audience of millions a look at Greater Green Bay. It’s priceless exposure Toll, the executive director of the area’s convention and visitors bureau, couldn’t buy.

“In Green Bay, we say we’re so much more than the Packers, but let’s face it: The Packers is our brand and it’s a global one,” Toll said.

On the other?

“A lot of times what people, particularly outside of Wisconsin, know about us is what they see on Sundays,” Toll said. “A lot of times in the past, they would break away to a commercial at a Packer game and there’d be a cow standing in a field. OK. We have cows, but they’re not walking around downtown.”

This is the struggle the NFL’s smallest city faces as it tries to promote awareness of activities beyond Lombardi Avenue. Yes, Green Bay is home to the mighty Packers, but it’s also a city trying to call more attention to its bike lanes, farm-to-table restaurants, events, schools, family-supporting jobs and opportunities to serve the community.

It’s a Green Bay that Lee-Ann Klingsporn didn’t know existed when she moved to Ashwaubenon with her husband, Brad, two years ago. A native of South Africa, Lee-Ann said her original perceptions were shaped by Bay Park Square and surrounding shops before Brad took her to dinner at Chefusion on Broadway.

“Until then, I never knew there was a downtown here,” she said. “There’s a lot of charm to Green Bay. You just have to find it.”

On Broadway Inc. Executive Director Brian Johnson said Green Bay area groups like Current Young Professionals, On Broadway Inc., Downtown Green Bay, Live54218 and GreenLight Green Bay are succeeding in calling attention to the region’s efforts to attract and retain young professionals and to expand the city's brand beyond just the Packers.

Now, he said, the community needs to do a better job of letting the world know.

“We’re making the kind of progress young professionals are looking for and we’ve been doing so at an incredibly rapid pace,” Johnson said. “What has not kept pace is the storytelling that goes with it. We have to tell the stories of all those people who, once they get here, they don’t want to leave.”

Toll said the key to selling Green Bay is to believe the message. He said travel journalists, real estate developers and other guests the bureau brings to town for tours rarely leave with the same perception of Green Bay that they arrived with.

“We show them (Bay Beach) the nation’s ninth oldest amusement park, the National Railroad museum … they’re often very surprised by what a beautiful place this is and that outdoor recreation is embraced the way it is,” Toll said. “They’re really shocked at what the community all has to offer.”

The Klingsporns recently opened Aardvark Wine Lounge to share a bit of South African culture with Green Bay and out of a desire to contribute to downtown's recent resurgence. But the perception of Green Bay as little more than beer, cheese and the Packers reared its head when she sought funding from a statewide women’s business group.

PACKERS09 PACKERS - Rob Roskom, Seymour, is decked out in all kinds of green and gold topped off with a goal post on his head before the Green Bay Packers wild-card playoff game against the New York Giants at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. on Sunday, January 8, 2017.(Photo: Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

“They asked me ‘Is Green Bay sophisticated enough for something like this?’” she said. “I told them people are not flashy about things in Green Bay, they’re not in your face. But there’s people in Green Bay who want to try new things.”